Streaming Media

If you don't want to use cable TV or satellite, you still have myriad choices for getting your fix of video content thanks to a plethora of download and streaming services. But the landscape of streaming entertainment is badly fractured because of copyright issues, turf wars and fear, uncertainty and doubt from the companies that control the content. Will it ever change?

DIAL, an open standard form of wireless playback, is being given a rather large push by both Netflix and YouTube. Their hopes are that using an open standard will allow developers to solve second screen playback issues in a better way than Apple's AirPlay. In other words, it wouldn't be a proprietary solution and would be available to anyone who wants to implement the protocol.

Streaming music service Lala closed its virtual doors today. Acquired by Apple last year, rumors persist that Lala talent and technology will be a part of an upcoming iTunes.com service that moves Apple music, movie, and TV offerings to the cloud.

In a guest-post on TechCrunch, MP3.com founder and MP3tunes CEO, Michael Robertson cites a "wide variety of insider sources" when saying Apple will NOT offer subscription services any time soon, but rather leverage their recent acquisition of Lala to take iTunes to the cloud: